Fashion Night
by Levannar
Summary: Who thought that looking for some letters could bring you to a ball? XL; expect major insanity and some fluff as well: R&R, please! Now COMPLETE!
1. Part 1

**Author's Notes:** Hi there! I hope you'll like this. To tell the truth, this would be a very long oneshot, but when I got over 10 000 words, I decided to divide it into chapters so that it's more comfortable to read. The plot itself wouldn't be so long but it's quite detailed, so if you like detailed fics, this is for you! R&R, please!  
**Note:** I'll be adding a new chapter in every two or three days.

**Disclaimer:** The only thing I own is a cute Xelloss-shaped smiley on my schoolbag. Don't sue me!

* * *

Fashion Night

It was a beautiful afternoon in the city of Inashtar. There were birds singing in the trees, the temperature was perfect, the sun shone brightly. It was a splendid day, even for guests of the Hungry Mazoku inn. Not the best name for a place meant to attract people, as Zelgadis remarked when the Slayers gang entered the building.

"And it's wrong, too" Xelloss added. "As we are continuously feeding off negative emotions, we are never hungry."

"Thank you, Xelloss" said Lina sarcastically. "I always wanted to know details about your eating habits."

"Anytime, Lina-san. Just ask."

"Just ask? Well then, did we ever mean more to you than a bunch of walking buffets?"

"That's a secret."

"What a surprise that answer was" said Zelgadis apathetically, while Lina was beating up the priest.

"Miss Lina?"

Lina stopped and looked at Amelia. "Yes?"

"I refuse to stay at a place that bears the name of Evil!" the princess stated, standing in her usual All Evil Shall Perish-pose.

Lina rolled her eyes. "I regret to tell you this, Amelia, but no local inn is named after Justice."

"Oh, really?" Xelloss got up, having quickly recovered after the sorceress' attack. "So sad."

Lina went to the innkeeper. "We would like to rent some rooms."

The man smiled at her. "You're lucky. I have two rooms left."

"Good, we'll take them." One for the girls, one for the guys, she thought. "By the way, I never thought this was such a crowded city. This is the fifth inn we have visited. None of the others had any rooms we could have stayed in."

"Well, that's because of the ball."

"Ball? What ball?"

"You haven't heard about it? The famous Fashion Night is going to be held in the palace today."

"Really? That's interesting. We'll listen to the story some time, but right now we've got better things to do." She took the keys and handed one of them to Zelgadis and Gourry. The other one she kept to herself.

They sat in the corner of the dining hall, far away from the other guests. Lina and Gourry ordered the entire menu, everything in double portions. Amelia decided to comfort herself with the inn's special offer, while Zelgadis drank some coffee.

When they finished their lunch, they began to discuss their objective.

"So, Xelloss," Lina started, "What do you know about that manuscript?"

"Well, it's not really a manuscript. We are looking for the letters of Lei Magnus."

"Interesting. Do you know where they are kept?"

The mazoku chuckled. "Now, Lina-san, if I knew where they were, we wouldn't have to search for them, would we?"

The sorceress made a face. "Point taken."

"In fact, I've heard they are somewhere in the palace. And they are probably protected by magical shields and traps. We'll see."

"Why don't you simply teleport in and look for them yourself?" Zelgadis didn't say anything else, but his glare showed clearly what he really meant: _Why on Earth do you have to use US again?!_

"I can't do that. The Astral Plane is blocked."

"It takes an awful lot of energy to do that" Lina remarked.

"Yes. That's why I think we'll have to be careful with the traps as well. That is, of course, if we manage to get in somehow."

"Do you have any ideas?"

"No."

Lina sighed. "What do you think, Zel?"

The chimera snorted. "Why would I help this fruitcake?"

Xelloss gave him a beautiful smile. "Because I ask you so nicely?"

"I don't care how nicely you ask, damned mazoku. You nauseate me."

Lina rolled her eyes. "Please, Zel, don't start again. We were arguing about this the entire way, wasn't that enough?"

"Miss Lina is right, Mr. Zelgadis! We must quit hurting each other's feelings, and then, in the name of Justice, we shall triumph!!" Amelia was apparently starting to work herself up into a frenzy about cooperation. "Now, apologize!"

"What?!"

"Now, now, Miss Amelia, there is really no need for that" said Xelloss quickly. He was starting to feel like Zelgadis. Nauseated.

"IN THE NAME OF JUSTICE, APOLOGIZE!" screamed Amelia, while she was shaking the poor chimera.

"O…kay… I… a…polo…gize…"

"Uh, I'm feeling all dizzy…" Xelloss stood up and tried to flee.

Amelia released Zelgadis' neck, seeming to be extremely proud of herself. "Now that you made friends again, we can start working on our plan! Life is wonderful, isn't it?" Xelloss fainted in the background, thus collapsing in the middle of the room with a loud crash.

Everyone stared at the motionless form of the mazoku. Amelia was scared, Lina a little worried, Zel unconcerned, Gourry simply confused. Finally Lina got up to examine him.

"Did she kill him?" asked the chimera in an apathetic voice, sipping his coffee.

"Nope. Just knocked him out."

"Crap."

"So, what do you think we should begin with?" Lina left the priest where he was and sat back on her chair.

"We should examine the palace first. There must be some way in, we just have to find it."

"All right, let's go!" the sorceress stopped. "But what about Xelloss? He doesn't look like he is about to regain consciousness anytime soon."

Zelgadis shrugged. "Why bother about the fruitcake? Just leave him there. He is big enough to be noticed and not stepped upon."

"We can't just leave someone lying on the floor of the dining hall! Not even a fruitcake." Lina had to admit that she felt concerned about the well-being of the mazoku. He was a friend, after all. An annoying friend, but still a friend. "Besides, what if he wakes up and gets mad? He might even make the food disappear. I can't let that happen."

"You are not serious, are you? Can you really imagine Xelloss being _mad?_"

Lina laughed. "No, but it must be pretty frightening. Pick him up, Gourry. We'll take him up to one of our rooms."

- o -

They spent the whole afternoon walking around the palace, but to no avail. There were high walls protecting it – that wouldn't have been a problem. The soldiers patrolling on the top of them were, however. They could have broken in anyway, but they would have been immediately noticed, so that was not an option. If they wanted to be able to search for those letters, they had to get in without being discovered.

"It appears like the only way to get in safely would be by finding some excuse" Zelgadis was thinking aloud.

"You're right, Mr. Zelgadis" replied Amelia. "Then we could search for the letters without having to hurt someone."

"Ah" said Gourry intelligently. "But how?"

The chimera shrugged. "I have no idea."

"Wait a minute!" Lina suddenly stopped. "Maybe we could make use of that ball."

"What ball?"

"The ball in the palace tonight. The innkeeper told me about it."

"And you forgot about that?!" Zel seemed rather furious. "We wasted the whole afternoon!"

Lina shrugged. "I didn't think it mattered. And I hate balls anyway."

"Why, Miss Lina?" Amelia sighed happily, her eyes all starry. "I've always loved balls! Oh, those beautiful gowns! And I've always been elected as the belle of the ball!"

Lina's face turned all red. "That's because you are the princess of Seyruun! No wonder you were the belle of the ball with your father being the crown prince!" She snorted and turned away.

"What's the matter, Lina?" asked Gourry with wide eyes. Then his face turned serious. He placed his hand on Lina's shoulder. "I see. But never mind that you weren't elected!" He seemed to think for a couple of moments then his face brightened. "It must have been a mistake anyway. I'm sure you can jingle better than anyone!"

Lina stared at him for a few seconds. Then she smacked him on the head fiercely. "JELLYFISH BRAINS!!"

"Hey, what did I do?!" he asked, seemingly confused.

"It's the _belle_ of the ball, not the _bell_ of the ball, you idiot!" Zel and Amelia sweathdropped, finally understanding what the swordsman meant.

"Come on" said the chimera. "Let's go back to the inn and ask the innkeeper for more details about this ball."

- o -

Back at the inn, Lina began to pump the guy for everything he knew about the ball.

"Well, you see, Inashtar is famous for its fashionable clothes. A lot of designers live here and we set the fashion of the continent. Every year, the Fashion Night is held and the designers present their new dresses."

"At the ball in the palace?"

"Yeah. It is a contest as well; the designer whose dress the jury chooses becomes the Fashion King."

"And how can we get in? I mean, where can we buy tickets or something?"

The innkeeper shook his head. "All the tickets have been sold months ago, I'm afraid."

"Crap. I have to get in!"

"Well, if you really want to take part in the event, there is one way left. At 7 o'clock, two hours before the beginning of the ball, every designer has to pick two people who will present his clothes. You see, that's part of the show: ordinary people getting the chance to meet celebrities and become famous. If one of the designers chooses you for that, you get in."

"Anyone can apply?"

"Yes. You just have to be at the Town Square at 7 o'clock."

"Great!" Lina punched in the air. "What time is it?"

"6 o'clock" replied Zelgadis.

"All right, let's go up to our rooms! I have to beauty myself."

The chimera sighed. "Don't you hate balls?"

"Of course I hate them. But come on, Zel! Don't you think the letters of Lei Magnus are worth it?"

"Well… I guess."

With that, they dropped the subject. Lina and Amelia spent more than half an hour bathing, brushing their hair, perfecting their make-up, etc. Meanwhile, Zelgadis was sitting in an armchair, seemingly bored. Gourry was already asleep. Nobody paid attention to Xelloss, who was lying on one of the beds in the same position as they left him, and apparently was still unconscious.

"Hey, guys, we're ready!" shouted Lina, popping in front of them. "Do I look good?" When Gourry simply snorted and turned on his other side, she sweathdropped. "Geez, you could at least look at me. What do you think, Zel?"

The chimera carefully examined her. "Well…"

Lina's face turned red. "Don't tell me I did all the preparation in vain" she growled.

"No, no, not at all!" said Zel quickly. "I just haven't ever seen you wearing make-up on. You look a little strange."

"Strange? You mean you think I'm not beautiful?" Lina's voice became threatening.

"NO! I-I think you are beautiful!" The chimera tried to avoid the punishment then he suddenly realized what he just said and turned redder than the tomato soup at lunch. "I mean…"

"_FLARE ARROW!!"_

Zelgadis couldn't even shout before the spell hit him in the face. Gourry fell from his bed as the explosion reached him. Xelloss jumped, cried out and formed a magical shield around himself before fully waking up.

"What happened?" he asked, blinking around. Then, as the smoke cleared up, he found himself face to face with Amelia, who was standing at the door. "AAAARGH!"

"Oh, Miss Lina, why do you always have to do this?!" the princess asked, shaking her head. She looked at her friends: Zelgadis, who was still trying to extinguish his burning clothes; Gourry, who was sitting on the floor, apparently trying to figure out what had happened or at least where he was; Xelloss, who apparently fainted again (although not because of the spell); and Lina, who was standing in the middle of the room, scratching her head and laughing nervously.

"Heh-heh, I guess I overdid it a little" she said.

Zelgadis buried his face in his hands. "Why me?"

"We have no time for this, Miss Lina!" said Amelia. "We have to be at the Town Square at 7!"

"Of course! Is… er… everyone all right?"

"Yeah" said the chimera apathetically. "Wake up the fruitcake, and let's go."

"All right" said Lina. She walked to the bed. "Wake up! Hey, Xel!"

"What do you want?" asked Zelgadis.

"I said Xel, not Zel." Lina blushed.

"Oh." The chimera raised an eyebrow. "I didn't know you called him that."

Amelia seemed worried. "Miss Lina, do you really think it's safe to nickname a high-level mazoku?"

Lina turned away to hide her red face and shrugged. "Oh, he won't mind that." In fact, she often called him that in her thoughts, but she never said it out loud. She wondered what he would say if he heard her calling him that.

When she thought her face cooled a bit, she turned back to the bed. She shook the mazoku. "You have slept enough! We've got work to do."

Xelloss' eyes shot open. He yawned, stretched his arms then smiled at the sorceress. "Good morning, Lina-san." Then he closed his eyes again.

"Hey, don't fall asleep!"

The mazoku raised his eyebrow. "I won't fall asleep. I thought you've already got used to me walking with closed eyes half the time." He got up and took his staff that was leant to the wall. "So, where are we going?" He stopped and examined the sorceress. "And why are you wearing make-up?"

"We're going to a ball."

This caught Xelloss off-guard. He opened his eyes and stared at her. "But you aren't wearing a gown" he pointed out after a couple of seconds' hesitation.

"I'll explain it later. We've got to go now, else we'll be late."

- o -

They arrived at the Town Square some minutes before seven. They immediately had to realize that they should have come earlier. There was a huge crowd; they couldn't even see the gates of the palace on the other side of the square.

Lina stamped. "Hey, this is not fair! Those designers won't even notice me!"

"What should we do then, Miss Lina?" asked Amelia. "I don't think we can get any closer."

"Of course we can! _RAY-WING!_"

"Hey, wait a minute!" shouted Zelgadis as the sorceress flew away. "Oh, brother…" He followed her.

"Wait for me!" Amelia flew after them, with Gourry hanging on her legs.

They created a rather large sensation when they flew to the gates at top speed. Lina stopped and floated above the crowd, looking for an appropriate landing spot. Of course, there wasn't any: the whole square was covered with people, as well as every tree, statue, nearby building, etc.

"And now?" asked Zelgadis when he finally caught up with her.

Lina scratched her head. "Uh, I haven't really thought about that…" The chimera almost fell down.

"Someone, help me!" groaned Amelia when she arrived with the swordsman. "Mr. Gourry is too heavy!"

Zel sighed. "Leave him to me." He took the scared passenger and floated a little higher above the crowd.

"We should land somewhere" said Lina.

"But where?"

"I have no idea."

"Then why don't we stay here?" asked Xelloss, suddenly appearing by Lina's side and scaring her like hell.

"Don't sneak up on me like that!" she screamed, punching in his face. The priest flew a couple of meters then returned like a boomerang, grinning crazily. "Oh, Lina-san, you always react so nicely."

"Shut up, Xel!" cried Lina, "-loss", she added quickly. But not quickly enough.

"Oh, dear" the mazoku said with an even wider grin. "You called me by a nickname! No human has ever done that!"

"SHUT UP!!" At this moment, the sound of trumpets could be heard and the gates of the palace opened. Soldiers appeared and forced the crowd to retreat a couple of meters. Some other people came after them, dressed in black tuxedoes. After a couple of moments Lina realized that they had to be the designers. She noted gladly that there were dozens of them. At least one of them will surely notice the most beautiful and talented sorceress in the world!

The designers took in the air, each casting a levitation spell. _Smart_, the sorceress thought. Instead of trying to work themselves through the huge crowd, they looked for the perfect persons to present their dresses by floating above them. She descended a couple of meters to be at their eye-level. Xelloss followed her, while Zelgadis and Amelia were trying to calm down Gourry, who apparently was still afraid of flying.

"Quit whining, Gourry!" shouted Lina. "Show your best face, I'll need you as my partner to get in!" She slightly blushed at the thought of them going together to a ball. _It's just a way to get in the palace,_ she thought to herself, _not a date, or anything..._ Still, it seemed an awfully lot like a date.

A man came flying towards her. _Oh, he surely wants me to present the dress he had designed…_ then Lina realized he didn't wear a tuxedo but a tunic and leather armor. He obviously was one of the palace guards. "Excuse me, Miss" he said politely. "I'm afraid I must ask you and your companions to leave the airspace of the Town Square."

"What?!" the man slightly frowned at her definitely impolite answer.

"I'm sorry, but this is the rule" he explained. "Only the guards and the designers are allowed to fly. Since you are neither, you have to land somewhere."

"Of course" answered Lina, folding her arms on her chest "Now show me a place where I could do that. I can't just land on people's head you know."

"I'm sure there is plenty of room nearby the square."

"Yeah, that's where we came from. And we definitely won't go back. We have to get to the ball!" instead of waiting for an answer, she took Gourry and flew towards the palace, waving in the direction of the nearest designer. "Hey! Don't we look good together? Well, we would look even better in the clothes you've designed, so choose us!"

"Wait a minute!" shouted the soldier helplessly. Nobody was paying attention to him. The designer raised his eyebrow. "Sorry", he said. "I'm not looking for your type."

"Oh, come on! I know we are the perfect people to present those clothes!"

The designer shook his head. "Like I said, no."

"But…"

"Lina-san" said Xelloss, floating to her side "Don't you think you are a little too aggressive? There are other designers around as well."

Lina sighed. "All right."

"Miss, I ask you again to wait for the designers on the ground."

Lina turned around to face the soldier. "And I tell you again that…" She blinked, seeing that she wasn't facing just him, but an entire squadron. "Where did _they_ come from??"

Instead of answering, they targeted her with their spears. "All right, all right!" she shouted, almost dropping Gourry. "I don't want trouble!"

"Of course not" said Xelloss with a smile "but it always finds you."

"Shut up!" Lina didn't know just how many times she had already told him to do that, but apparently to no avail. She just got him to smile at her, which was even worse because for some reason she always blushed. She cursed herself countless times for reacting just like he wanted her to, but couldn't stop it.

"Hey, wait a minute!" someone shouted. The guards stopped and looked at the newcomer, who flew right to Lina and her friends. He appeared to be a designer, which immediately caught the sorceress' attention. He floated in front of Lina with a wide grin on his face. "Perfect, just perfect!" he said happily. He clapped his hands. "I'll take them!"

"Really?" There were stars in Lina's eyes. She certainly wasn't the belle of the ball yet, but this guy picked her out of hundreds, if not thousands of people! She immediately forgot how much she hated balls. "Did you hear that, Gourry?"

"Oh no, not him" the designer said with a smile. "You come, Miss, and you, Sir." With that he grabbed Lina and Xelloss.

"WHAT??" Lina gasped "I'm not with him!"

"Well, this evening you will be." The designer stopped and looked at them. "Such amazing colors! You look beautiful together!"

"Huh?" Lina began to turn redder and redder. _They_, _looking __**beautiful**_ _together?!_ This guy is insane! "But I'm with… "

"Of course we'll go with you!" said Xelloss with a grin. "We've always dreamed about getting in the famous Fashion Night!" He took Lina's arm who now really dropped Gourry in surprise. While the swordsman crashed in the crowd with a yelp, she stared at the priest.

"Come on, we don't have time for this!" said the designer, motioning in the direction of the gate. "You have to try those clothes on!"

"Of course!" Xelloss followed him to the gates and took the dumbfounded Lina with him.

"What should we do now, Mr. Zelgadis?" asked Amelia when they disappeared inside the palace.

The chimera sighed. "First, get Gourry. Then wait for them, I guess." So, they took the unconscious swordsman and flew to the edge of the square.


	2. Part 2

**Author's Notes:** Hello there! Here comes Part 2, as promised. A little less humor and a little more... well... what to call it? Pre-love? Anyway, R&R, please! Pretty please? I'm getting the sinking feeling that people don't like this story as much as my previous one... I know, there wasn't real romance in that, so fans of other couplings read it too, but still, it would feel very very very good if you left a note about it! If you don't like it then please tell me why not, so that I can improve my next stories. All in all, constructive criticism welcome!  
**Note:** Part 3 is likely to come on Monday. Oh, and I think there'll be 6 parts altogether.

See Part One for **Disclaimer**.

- o -

Inside the palace, Lina finally recovered from her astonishment and quickly escaped from Xelloss' grab. She turned and faced him furiously. "Just what do you _think_ you're doing?!"

Xelloss raised an eyebrow. "Getting into the palace, I suppose." The designer guy was already at the end of the corridor, so he didn't have to worry about him hearing them. "That's the plan, remember?"

"But I should have come with Gourry!"

"But we got in, and that's the point. Besides, I didn't know you wanted so badly to go with him to a ball."

"Of course I didn't want that!"

"What's your problem, then?"

"It just… doesn't seem right. I go everywhere with him."

"Well, now you have to come with me. Think about the letters!"

"All right." Lina snorted. "Anyway, this isn't a date or anything."

Xelloss stared at her. "Of course. This is definitely not a date. Did you consider it as one?"

"No, I just thought I should rather state it before you get ideas."

Xelloss shrugged. "Well, I would never ask you out for a date, if that helps."

Lina stared at him, suddenly feeling like he stabbed her in the heart. At this moment the designer called. "Hey, hurry up, you two!" Lina took the opportunity and dashed away. Xelloss stared after her for some seconds, then shrugged and followed her. Thousands of years' experience with humans, and sometimes he still couldn't understand them. Especially girls.

- o -

Some minutes later Lina was standing on a stool in her underwear, with half a dozen girls measuring her sizes with tape-lines. She couldn't see Xelloss, which was a good thing because it meant he couldn't see her either. She didn't exactly want him to look at her in underwear; besides, she was still angry with him. The frustrating thing was that she didn't know why. She herself didn't want to go with him on a date; in fact, the idea wasn't even worth considering, since he was a mazoku. But then why did she feel so hurt when he said he wouldn't ask her out for one? _What the hell is with me?!_

One of the girls appeared with a folded dress in her hands. "Time to dress up, Miss!"

"What? How did you make it so quickly?"

"Oh, it was ready" another girl explained. "We made one in every size, so we just had to adjust it."

"I see." Lina was thinking while they began to dress her up. "You know, if you chose people a couple of weeks before the ball and not in the last minute, you wouldn't have to work so much."

"Yes, that's true. But we can't do it; this last-minute-choosing is part of the tradition." The girl took a pair of shoes from a box. "Here you are." She put them on Lina's feet.

The sorceress, now properly dressed for a real ball, stepped down from the stool. The girls led her to a chair. When she sat down, a man appeared.

"Let me make your hair properly" he said and began to comb her hair and embalm it with all kinds of creams. The girls covered her shoulders with towels so that there wouldn't be patterns on the dress.

It took almost an hour, but the hairdresser finally finished his work. As a finishing touch, he put a dark rose in Lina's hair. "Perfect!" he said with a smile. Lina sighed in relief: the process was finally over, she thought. Her hopes were ruined, though, when the make-up artist came: a large, unruly woman with short black hair. Despite Lina's protest she washed off the make-up from her face and began to do another one. It took her almost 20 minutes to finish, and when she did, Lina felt like a porcelain doll.

She stood up, fighting the urge to touch her face and possibly ruin all the woman's hard work. "Your gloves, Miss" a girl said. Lina put up the long, dark gloves. They stretched to her elbow; the silky textile felt luxurious on her skin. "And now, the finishing touch" another girl said, holding a necklace in her hand. Lina just stared at it: it was breath-takingly beautiful, with lovely rubies in it. The girl helped her to put it around her neck. "Finished, Miss" she said with a smile. "Oh, dear" the make-up artist clapped her hands. "You look beautiful!"

"Thank you" said Lina, blushing in embarrassment. _Will Xel say that as well?_ She shook her head. _Why do I care what he thinks about my outfit? HECK, WHY DO I EVEN THINK ABOUT HIM? He'll probably just say something rude._ She sighed. _I should have come with Gourry. He wouldn't tease me for the rest of my life if this gown doesn't fit well._

The girls led her to a huge mirror. She looked at her image for some seconds. _Hmm, not so bad… in fact, quite pretty_. The dress made her look incredibly… womanly. It was black with dark red frails on its long, ample skirt part. It was tight in waist, emphasizing her slender form; the top made her breasts look bigger. And the whole thing was made of silk, or something similar. Her hairstyle was really nice as well: long waves with a seemingly complicated set of curls, the dark rose in it fitting the dress perfectly.

"Time to meet your partner, Miss" the girls said excitedly. "Of course" she said, and swallowed hard.

- o -

A minute later she was alone walking down a staircase, carefully taking her steps not to get entangled in her long dress. When she got down, she arrived to a corridor. She entered the first door on the left. She found herself in a large room with expensive-looking pictures on its walls and a huge mirror at one of them. There were two men talking in the middle of it, both standing with their backs to her. One of them was Xelloss; she immediately recognized his dark purple hair even if he didn't have his staff with him.

Both men turned around when she approached them. She just had to smile when she saw their jaws almost dropping to the ground when they looked at her. She must look pretty! The other guy, who turned out to be the designer, gasped at the sight. As for Xelloss, he was simply staring at her without a word, but with such astonishment clearly written on his face that she couldn't help but laugh. The fact that he so rarely showed any emotion except his usual stupid grin just made the triumph even sweeter. _Ha! Tell me NOW you would never ask me out for a date! _She frowned. _Not that I want you to…_

"Uh, here am I" she said, rather lamely.

The designer grinned. "Perfect, just perfect! I never even hoped I will be so lucky at my first Fashion Night!"

Lina stared at him. "Is this your first one then?" Sure enough, he looked rather young.

"Yeah" he said. "I'm Yaroh, by the way. Your friend told me I haven't introduced myself yet." He scratched his head. "Sorry for that; I was so excited I simply forgot about it."

"No problem" said Lina with a smile. At the first glance the guy had seemed rather arrogant, but perhaps he wasn't that bad after all. "I'm Lina Inverse."

"Well, nice to meet you then, Miss Inverse" Yaroh bowed and kissed her hand like she was a princess. Lina blushed and giggled nervously. Nobody has ever did that to her, but it felt really nice. She had to admit that she was beginning to like the guy. She didn't really know what to do, though, when a couple of minutes passed and he was still holding her hand and smiling at her.

Xelloss cleared his throat. "So, Mr. Yaroh, don't you have to appear at the panel of judges?"

Yaroh released Lina's hand swiftly. "Oh, yes. Of course." He shot the priest an angry look. "Thank you for reminding me."

While Lina just stood there confused at the sudden change of atmosphere, Xelloss opened his eyes and looked at him furiously. "You're welcome." He gazed at the designer till he left the room.

"What the hell was that?" asked Lina when they were finally alone. The priest glimpsed at her then closed his eyes and flashed her a smile. "Nothing, Lina-san." Inside, he was musing. Just what was that, indeed?

Lina stared at him quizzically for some moments then shrugged. "Whatever." She made her way to the large mirror, wanting to see her reflection again. Xelloss raised his eyebrow, but followed her.

Lina had to admit that their image in the mirror looked really good. Xelloss was wearing a black tuxedo and he looked really elegant. Lina frowned; she normally couldn't imagine a mazoku wearing tuxedo and going to a ball. But Xelloss had already shown a lot of times that he was no ordinary mazoku, and they weren't here just for the ball anyway, as she had to remind herself. She now sincerely hoped though that he didn't plan on treasure hunting before she could show herself to the judge and all the other people here.

"Well, Mr. Yaroh was right: we _do_ look good together" Xelloss remarked, standing so close to her that she could almost feel his breath. Lina nodded and somehow managed not to blush. "At least in this outfit" she added quickly. The mazoku chuckled. "Of course."

"So, do you know what we should do when the show begins?" asked Lina. "We'll take part, won't we?"

"Yes. They would look for us if we disappeared before the judges saw us. I hope we'll be able to escape later, maybe after the dance, but I'm not sure. It's possible we'll have to wait until the end of the contest."

"Okay." Lina was smiling for some moments, then, as the words sank in, her eyes suddenly widened. "DANCE??"

Xelloss raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. When people go to a ball, they tend to do that."

"But…"

"What's the matter? Don't tell me you can't dance."

Lina snorted. "Of course I can dance! I'm just… not exactly an expert. And I didn't plan on practicing it with a mazoku."

Xelloss grinned. "Oh, don't worry about that. I can dance pretty well."

"Really? Where did you learn it, on the death row?"

"No, not exactly. Maybe I'll tell you some time."

"In other words, it's a secret." The mazoku grinned. "You're learning."

At that moment Yaroh burst into the room, totally panicking. "Gods, you have to come now! It'll begin in a few minutes!"

"Whaaa??" Lina gasped. "But I don't even know what to do once we got there!"

"Oh, that's easy" said the designer while they were already hurrying on the corridor towards the great ballroom. "You just go there to the judges, turn around, do a curtsey, go away. That's all."

"Do we have to say something?"

"No. Just do what I said. But you won't come first so you'll see what the others are doing."

They arrived to a room full of people, all in evening clothes. Yaroh pointed at the door on the other side. "You'll have to go in there. You're number 16." With that, he shot Lina a warm smile and left the room with the other designers.

"Thanks very much" Lina snorted. "We are going to present his damned clothes, and he just goes away."

Xelloss shrugged. "I guess he'll wait for us in the ballroom." And he was glad for it. For some reason the looks the guy gave to Lina really started to annoy him.

The sorceress sighed and mentally went through all the things they'll have to do in front of the judges. At a point her eyes suddenly widened. She turned to the mazoku nervously. "Xelloss?"

"Hmmm?"

"Please tell me you know how to do a curtsey."

Xelloss stared at her. "You mean you don't know how to do that?"

"Well, I've seen others doing it" said Lina, looking rather embarrassed "But I've never done it myself."

The priest scratched his head. "Um, I haven't really done it either. As you can see, I'm a male mazoku and, well, just like human men, we don't tend to do curtseys."

"Uh, yes. I see." Lina sighed and looked around. "Then I guess I'll have to ask someone." After a couple of moments' hesitation she turned to the nearest girl. "Hey, you! Show me how to do a curtsey!"

Xelloss sweathdropped. "Um, don't you think you should ask her a bit more politely?"

"Please!" When the girl snorted and walked away, Lina shrugged. "You see? No use."

Xelloss sighed. This was going to be a hell of a long evening.


	3. Part 3

**Author's Notes:** Hello, everyone! Here's Part three, as promised. I've edited it twice, so I hope there aren't as many grammar mistakes in it as in the previous parts. I'm sorry for them: I'm still learning English. Anyway, thanks for the kind reviews, you've brightened my day! Review, please, all you anonymus readers!:)  
**Note:** Part four is going to come on Wednesday.

For **disclaimer**, see Part one. Or you can check out Part two, in which I also tell you to see Part one:)

- o -

About ten minutes later they were busy practicing the turning-around, curtsey-doing process. Lina had finally been able to learn it, thanks to the much nicer approach Xelloss had made to another girl. He didn't really know why he decided to help, though; normally he would have just waited and watched how this all would turn out, or rather did something to turn everything upside down. But, as he had to admit, this wasn't an ordinary evening. He could tell that this whole show meant a lot to Lina for some reason and realized that he didn't want to ruin it. He shrugged at this thought. He had always had a strange respect for the sorceress and even though he frequently went out of his way to piss her off, he never really wanted to hurt her. He didn't understand why he felt this way, but as long as it didn't get in the way of carrying out his orders, he simply accepted it.

His thoughts were suddenly interrupted by said sorceress, who stumbled, lost her balance and fell. Xelloss reached out for her without a second thought and she safely landed in his arms instead of the floor. Her face immediately became red and as soon as she regained her balance, she pushed him away fiercely. He let her go and raised an eyebrow. "Are you all right, Lina-san?"

She nodded quickly, still blushing. "I-I'm just… not quite used to high-heels."

"Oh. But you still think you can do this, don't you?"

"Of course I can do it! I'm the most beautiful and talented sorceress in the world!"

Xelloss nodded. He didn't exactly understand how that helped her at walking on high-heels, but he didn't feel like pointing that out right now. Instead, he looked around. "Do you know how many people there are before us?"

"Nope. I guess they'll announce who is next." Sure enough, a tall man came and held up a board with a huge '15 next' sign on it. "Look, it appears like our turn's after them."

They walked to the door and waited. Number 15 consisted of a rather ordinary-looking man and a pretty blonde girl. Xelloss shivered at the sight of her: she almost looked like Filia, and he couldn't say he appreciated that. He sighed. If only he could at least go to a ball without being reminded of dragons…

The man and the blonde girl disappeared behind the door. When a few minutes passed, Lina stamped impatiently. "Just WHEN can we finally go in??!"

Xelloss glanced at her. "Be a little more patient, Lina-san. I'm sure-"

"'More patient' my ass! If they don't open that door quickly, I'll blow it up with a fireball!" Right when she said that, the door opened. The priest raised an eyebrow. "Looks like they heard you." Lina shrugged. "All the better. It's much easier to get people do what you want if they're afraid of you."

While the man with the board motioned them to step through the door, Xelloss smiled. "Yeah. Most of my job is about that." He offered her his arm. "Shall we?" Lina took it, slightly blushing, and they crossed the threshold.

They found themselves on a short corridor leading to a large, heavily decorated door. Lina gasped as it opened and they took sight of the gigantic, illuminated ballroom. Memories of the balls back in Zephielia flew into her mind; memories of all the excitement, the anticipation – and the disappointment when it was over without anyone asking her to dance. _Dear Cephied, just WHAT has gotten into me? I DON'T WANT TO DO THIS!!!!_

Xelloss felt her stiffening beside him, as well as the panic radiating from her astral body like a glowing aura. He glimpsed at her, raising an eyebrow. "Is there something wrong, Lina-san?"

The girl stared at him with fear in her eyes. She gulped loudly. _No. It won't be like that now. This time I have a date. Everything will be different…_ She felt her self-confidence return – then shatter again as her eyes widened in astonishment. _Gods, did I really just think he was my DATE??! _She shook her head. _I'm sick. Definitely sick._

She glanced at the priest and realized that he was still looking at her (well, at least she thought so, since his eyes were closed as usual), and apparently was still waiting for her answer. She forced out a smile. "No, everything's all right." She could see he didn't believe her, but to her relief he left it alone. "We should be going, then" he said. "It's probably not a good idea to keep the jury waiting." Lina nodded. "Right. Let's go." She took a deep breath, and then they stepped into the ballroom.

The room was huge, its walls decorated with flowers and red and golden stripes. The floor was made of white marble and it almost appeared to be shining as it reflected the light of the many lanterns hanging from the ceiling. There were elegant tables around the dancing area with men dressed in tuxedoes and women dressed in evening gowns sitting at them. The first 15 pairs of contestants were standing at the edge of the dancing area. Opposite to them stood a long table behind which the judges sat. The oldest man – possibly the leader – motioned them to come closer.

"And now ladies and gentlemen, I present you contestants number 16, wearing the dark-styled outfits of Yaroh Avantrila, one of the youngest designers I'm happy to welcome to Fashion Night!" shouted an elegant man with wide gestures. "Stand up, please, Mr. Avantrila, let us see you!"

"Who the heck is that?" hissed Lina, while Yaroh stood up from his table and was loudly applauded. "The host, I believe" answered Xelloss on a low voice.

"And now, let's see those dresses!"

When the attention of the audience turned back to them, Lina felt like they _really_ should do something. Her eyes met Xelloss' inquisitive glance and he nodded. They stepped forward and moved away from each other with Xelloss holding her hand somewhat high in the air, leading her gracefully towards the jury. When he stopped, she released his hand and went to his other side turning around while on the way, her every step light like she was dancing, her long dress softly rustling around her. They took each other's hand again and Lina did the curtsey. It was somewhat trembling and unstable but she didn't miss it, and that was enough. And its shaky style could be attributed to anxiety anyway.

"Hmmm, we can see a very nice solution here, ladies and gentlemen. Aesthetic use of frails, the dress in general has a nice cut." The host seemed to be in his element. "I especially like the rose myself. The suit is nice as well; first it appears to be classic-styled, but at the second look anyone can see its special design. Very well done, Mr. Avantrila!"

They were applauded and dismissed. _High time_, Lina thought. She was beginning to feel like an animal in a zoo with everyone gazing at her. They walked to the other contestants while she was praying not to stumble on her high-heels. Some god must have heard her because she arrived safely to Xelloss' side next to couple 15. She slightly frowned, feeling him wince when he stopped beside the blonde girl but she didn't say anything.

While the host called for contestants number 17, she sighed and relaxed a little. She could hardly believe it had gone so smoothly. She had been expecting Xelloss to be his usual asshole self and ruin everything, but surprisingly enough, he didn't do anything out of the order. _Maybe he isn't hungry_, she thought. _But mazoku are never hungry…_ She blinked at this thought. Of course, he had explained that when they had first seen the stupid name of that inn they were staying in.

She had to admit that she was a little disappointed. She hadn't expected the show to be about her, but that host could have at least introduced them. Of course, he had done that. 'Contestants number 16'. She would be feeling better now if he'd said their _names_ too, though. But what did she expect, seriously? Once it came to girly things, she never was in the centre of attention. She shouldn't have thought that it would be different this time.

Her depression sent a slight tremor through Xelloss' body. He turned to her, frowning; the reply to his silent question was just a shake of her head, asking him to leave her alone. So he did that, but inside he was musing. He had already got used to her rapid mood changes a long time before; what he _wasn't_ used to was feeling her panicking or depressed. How could a simple ball evoke such feelings from her if even the dark lords couldn't do it? He shrugged mentally. Whatever her problem was, she apparently wasn't going to share it with him. Not that he expected her to: she had never trusted him or considered him as a real friend, and it was perfectly fine that way. Still, he was curious. Maybe he could speak to her later and find out what she's afraid of.

The rest of the dress-presenting process was quite boring for them. In short, they were standing there and doing nothing for about an hour, while the host pointed out all the beauties of the other dresses. There were 40 designers taking part in the show, so it was not such a big surprise that it took so long. But that didn't help much when Lina's feet started to ache. She tried weighing only on her left leg first and then on the right one, but the pain didn't cease. _Great_, she thought. She couldn't possibly imagine how this evening could be worse. She was now glad she'd come with Xelloss, though: with him she could at least talk about some relatively interesting topics, even though they had to whisper in order not to disturb the show. But she still kept wishing they could sit down like the audience.

She breathed a sigh of relief when the last designer was introduced. _We can finally sit down_, she thought. But unfortunately they weren't so lucky. As soon as the dress-presenting was over, the dance started. "Hey, this isn't fair!" she burst out as the music began and they had to start a waltz. Xelloss raised an eyebrow. "If you hate dancing so much, Lina-san, I'm sure we can stop it in a couple of minutes." She snorted. "I hope so."

The priest pressed his lips in a firm line. _I bet you would be much happier if you were dancing with Yaroh…_ He frowned. _Why should I care? She dances with whoever she wants to. Still, she should concentrate on our objective; we aren't here for fun, after all._

After a few minutes some of the couples stopped dancing. Lina immediately suggested sitting down at a table and having a drink, so Xelloss went to fetch some wine. When he returned, a rather unpleasant surprise was waiting for him in the form of their dear designer friend, flirting with Lina. He fought his growing frustration with all his might. _Be patient. You can kill him later. _ He could tell, though, that Yaroh was trying to ask her for a dance. In a moment Lina will say yes, and leave him here with the wine and the two glasses without a second thought. _And with a quite difficult task at hand,_ he reminded himself. _I should be angry about that, and not the fact that she is dancing with him_.

"Sorry, but no" said Lina. Relief and a feel of triumph washed over the priest at the same time. So it wasn't his fault that she didn't want to dance with him! He suddenly felt strangely proud of himself. This meant he did nothing wrong, after all. While Yaroh left, forcing out a polite smile, he took his seat opposite to Lina and poured some wine into their glasses. "Why didn't you dance with him?" he asked carefully, sipping his wine. It was quite good, actually. As all the wine made in Zephielia.

Lina made a face. "My feet are hurting; that's why I don't want to dance with anyone." She smiled sadly. _But it felt good that he asked me,_ she thought. _That's something a mazoku would never do._

Xelloss smiled, his mood turning better and better. "Well, tell me if you change your opinion." _For Ruby-Eye's sake, that sounded like I wanted to dance with her._ He slightly frowned when he felt her mood lighten up. _Well, if it makes her happy, then why tell her I just wanted to start searching for those letters?_ He hesitated. _DID I really just want to do that?_ As he looked at the now happily smiling sorceress, he decided a little enjoyment never hurt. After all, they had the whole night to find the letters – and he would definitely enjoy dancing with her. Especially if it annoys the designer.


	4. Part 4

**Author's Note:** So, here's Part four, as promised; two more to go. If you review, I'll be encouraged and I'll surely have finished the story by Sunday!  
**Note: **Part five comes on Friday.

**Disclaimer** is still in Part one.

- o -

They were sitting there for about half an hour. Lina didn't exactly know why the fact that Xelloss wanted to dance with her made her so happy, but she was glad it had pulled her out of her momentary depression. It must have been because nobody had asked her to dance at the balls in Zephielia. Still, when Yaroh had asked her, she hadn't felt so happy. She _had been _happy, and proud as well, but that had been somehow entirely different. It hadn't made her feel so… special. _Maybe it's because I know what he is,_ she thought. She couldn't imagine him asking her to dance before, especially since he'd told her he wouldn't ask her out for a date. On the other hand, she couldn't think of any secret agenda that would give him the urge to dance with her, so she had to think he just really wanted to. For some reason that thought warmed her heart.

"So, how are your legs, Lina-san?" asked Xelloss with a warm smile. As she looked at him, Lina felt her lips curve up as well; at rare times like this, when he wore a real smile, just the sight of him was capable of making her giggle all around like she was insane. "Much better, thanks" she replied. That smile was so enchanting, she wondered if he had some real magic in it. "Well then, may I ask you for a dance now?" he asked, opening one eye. That, combined with the smile, proved to be too much for Lina: she felt like she would agree no matter how much it hurt, and suddenly regretted not dancing with him in the past half hour. "I don't see why not" was the only thing she said out loud, though; and she even managed to blush only a little when he got up with an even wider smile on his face and led her to the dancing area.

_Hey, he really IS a very good dancer, _she thought some moments later. She wondered why she hadn't noticed that when they were dancing earlier that evening. _Oh well. I guess I was too busy cursing my shoes._

The music was somewhat faster than at the first time and they started a wortoco, a dance well known in Seyruun and its close proximity. Lina wasn't very good at it; in fact, she'd learnt it years before and she'd already forgotten some steps. She had to pay attention in order not to stumble. At least in the first couple of moments; then she began to realize that Xelloss was excellent at this dance and she had nothing else to do but let him lead her. She still didn't relax, though, until the orchestra began to play another song and they started a more familiar dance.

She thought her feet would start to ache in about 15-20 minutes but an hour later she still felt almost no pain at all. Of course she didn't know that this was all thanks to Xelloss: while he couldn't heal anyone, his control over negative energies allowed him to dismiss human pain with a simple thought. It will return later, though, and it will even be much worse after an hour of dancing but he didn't really care as long as he got what he wanted. And he definitely got it: they were dancing very slowly and very close to each other with her head and hands resting on his chest and his arms wrapped around her slender waist. Some minutes earlier he had also felt anger radiating from his rival as Yaroh spotted them, but now it seemed like the designer finally gave up and looked for another girl to flirt with. After all, _he_ didn't know Lina had only refused him because of her hurting feet. For a moment Xelloss seriously considered telling him about this just to gain more energy when he continues to fight and loses again. But then he would have to leave Lina here, look for the guy and talk to him, and he decided – probably for the first time in his existence – that the meal wasn't worth of it. To tell the truth, he mainly had problems with the first step – releasing Lina. He realized that he really enjoyed holding her like this and didn't want to let her go, not even for such a short time. And this was what decided the matter: he always sought pleasure no matter what his official objective was. The only difference was that he'd never found pleasure before in anything that wasn't a source of energy. Of course he rarely enjoyed something _because_ he could feed off from it but things that were entertaining – such as pissing off Lina, for example – always meant a good meal as well. _Speaking of pissing off Lina,_ he thought lazily,_ I haven't done that since lunch. Maybe it's time to do it again._ He smiled. _She is just so much fun._ But then he had to reconsider the idea. If he made her angry now, she wouldn't want to dance with him any longer. He frowned. Now this was hard to decide. He really liked her fiery temper – but he could stimulate it anytime. Was that really worth of ruining this special evening? _No,_ he decided. He could do that later; now he only wanted to enjoy every bit of the situation. _Looks like nothing can make me let her go tonight,_ he mused. He chuckled inwardly. No wonder he was such an enigma to everyone: sometimes even he didn't understand himself.

As for Lina, she couldn't have cared less about what his intentions were. She was perfectly content right now. Funny how her opinion about this whole ball had changed: first, she didn't like the idea at all. Then, as she dressed up, she felt herself beautiful and was very happy. After they had been shown to the public, she thought it was the worst evening of her life. Now she thought it was maybe the best one. She tried to imagine how different it would be if she'd come with Gourry. First, she would surely have got a couple of remarks on her breast-size by now. She made a face. No matter how much Xelloss seemingly liked to annoy her, she couldn't remember of him ever commenting on that. Maybe he didn't want to hurt her. She almost laughed at that. She was apparently having some _very_ strange ideas about him lately. First she'd referred to him as her date and now this. How could she think of such a stupid thing? Mazoku lived for hurting others.

She sighed. So, how would this be with Gourry? She didn't even know if he could dance. But then again, sometimes he turned out to have some quite unexpected skills; and dance was pretty much like fighting, wasn't it? Well, she'll have to ask him about this sometime. Maybe he'll surprise her as well; after all, she'd never expected Xelloss to dance either, and he turned out to be the best dancer she'd ever seen. Of course she barely had enough experience to decide whether he was good or not, but she had the feeling she didn't overestimate him when she thought he was very good. She now sincerely wondered where he'd learnt it, though. Did mazoku have balls? The idea seemed pretty ridiculous. For a moment the image of some low-level mazoku popped into her mind, all with huge claws, black wings, beast-like jaws – and dressed in tuxedoes and evening gowns. She burst out laughing. As a result she felt Xelloss wince and when she lifted her head, he was frowning at her. "What's so funny, Lina-san?"

"Nothing. Just a thought" she replied, still giggling. "Say, Xel, do you mazoku give balls?"

"That's a secret."

Lina released him and put her hands on her hips, facing him angrily. "Just how many times do you have to say that every day?"

The mazoku chuckled softly. "It depends on how many questions you ask." He winked at her, still grinning. "By the way, no, we don't give any balls."

"So it's not so much of a secret, then."

"Why would it be? I just happen to like your reaction when you hear that phrase. But why do you want to know such a thing?"

Lina's lips slowly curved into an evil grin. "Well, that's a secret!" For a moment there was shock in the priest's eyes then he gave her a highly amused smile and apparently decided to play along. "Not fair, Lina-san! I've told you!"

"Yeah. For the first time in years." Lina snorted. "Let me have some fun as well."

"Pretty please?"

Lina had to laugh at the puppy eyes he made at her. But she hung on bravely. "No! Now I'm the Mysterious Lina Inverse and I'll just grin and never tell you!"

Xelloss somehow managed to preserve a serious face. "The Mysterious Lina Inverse? Oh dear. I guess I'm doomed, then." He sighed in defeat.

Lina grinned triumphantly. "Yeah, you totally are."

There was a twinkle in the priest's eyes. "Unless…" Out of the blue he suddenly presented a huge cake. Lina's mouth began to water at the sight of it. Xelloss grinned at her wickedly. "Are you sure you won't tell me?"

Lina was making efforts to ignore the food, but apparently in vain. "Gimme gimme gimme!!!!" she shouted, practically hugging him because he held the cake high above his head where she couldn't reach it. He let out an evil laugh. "Either you tell me or you won't get it!"

Lina suddenly realized what she was doing and released him with a small blush. It quickly disappeared, though, when she began to concentrate on the food again. "Give me that cake! NOW!"

Xelloss grinned. "And what if I don't?"

"Then I'll shove the Ragna Blade up your ass, fruitcake!"

"Aw. That would hurt." The mazoku sighed. "I guess I have to give it up, then." He shrugged and handed it to the sorceress. "I don't really care to know your every little secret anyway."

Lina took the cake but didn't start to eat it. She raised an eyebrow. "You don't?"

"Should I?" When she didn't answer, Xelloss smiled. "I don't think it's such an important secret anyway. At least it doesn't really interest me."

Lina's eyes narrowed. _It isn't interesting?! Why you…_ "Hey, it IS an important secret!"

"Why would it be? I don't see your reason for valuing it so much." He took his teaching-pose. "You always should decide which secrets are worth the effort of keeping them secrets."

"Don't lecture me!" Lina forgot entirely about the cake as she argued. "And don't tell me it's not interesting to know where the hell you've learnt to dance!" She frowned when she saw a huge, satisfied grin appear on his face. Then it all sank in. "I HATE you!" Oh, how much she wanted to Dragon Slave him into oblivion for this! She snorted and turned away, trying to control her temper. She really didn't want to blow up this whole place before she could have been elected as the belle of the ball.

Xelloss stared at her. Crap, he didn't want this! It had seemed like she was enjoying the game! _Oh, gotta reconciliate her…_ He produced another, even bigger cake and held it in front of her as a sign of peace. She didn't even look at it. He produced an ice-cream as well, but she didn't seem touched by that either. "Come on, Lina-san, you can't be that angry! Look at this, I've brought it for you! You can eat all of it!" No reaction. "Okay then, what about a nice shiny gem?" A huge ruby appeared in his hand. "You see, it matches your hair!" It seemed like he had finally caught her attention. After all, no matter how furious Lina was, she couldn't just ignore something so expensive-looking.

"You manipulative bastard" she murmured, slowly taking the gem. "Nice."

"It's real, not some fake. And you can keep it! I give it to you as a gift." And he looked at her with the cutest face she had ever seen. She was surprised to feel her anger fade away as she looked into those pleading puppy-eyes. A small smile appeared slowly on her face but she still was frustrated. "That was low, you know. Tricking me like that."

"Well, that's why I'm called the Trickster Priest!" he chirped happily then he suddenly turned serious again. "I'm sorry. I never thought you would take it so seriously."

She snorted but he could tell her mood was finally turning better. "Well, be fairer next time. And give me that other cake. And the ice-cream as well."

With her hands full with the food she headed for the table they had occupied earlier. Xelloss slowly followed her, musing and quietly smiling. _Note to self: Lina Inverse DOES like to play. But she definitely DOESN'T like to lose._


	5. Part 5

**Author's Notes:** Hi there! This one is a longie. More than 4000 words! Don't be discouraged, though:) It's a little more exciting than the earlier parts (or at least I think so). Read it and tell me if you agree! And YES, I'm trying to get you write a review:)  
**Note:** I hope I'll be able to post Part 6 (the last part!) on Sunday, and I think I'll be done with it by then, but I'm not sure.

**Disclaimer** still in Part One. Sorry, I'm too lazy to write it over and over.

- o -

About half an hour later they were standing on the large balcony, Lina still licking the ice-cream. She was buried in her thoughts, wondering why she felt so completely at ease with him. She blushed when she thought about how close they had been to each other when they had been dancing. She didn't know at all what she would have done if her friends had seen her like that. Still, it felt so good… nothing like that had ever happened to her. Well, it seemed like this evening was about new experiences. She'd never been to a ball she actually enjoyed; nobody had ever kissed her hand or asked her for a dance; and, in fact, she'd never eaten ice-cream on the balcony of a palace either.

It was already late at night, and the whole garden was illuminated by lanterns. Below the balcony there was a quite large square with a fountain in the middle of it. There were red, yellow and purple flowers at the edge of the square in the shadow of several trees, all planted in a straight line. Everything was tidy, pretty much reminding her of a picture drawn with a ruler. In short, it was like about every palace garden, probably taken care of by a hundred gardeners. Lina was quite sure she would have found a hedge maze as well if she had gone along the road that took the square as its starting-point.

She looked at her partner, who was still there on her side, seemingly deep in thought. For a moment Lina just stood there and took in the sight of him, cool, calm and collected as he always was. And quite handsome as well; she wasn't foolish or blind so that she wouldn't have noticed that. But, after all, wasn't her every male companion extremely good-looking? Gourry was like an Adonis, Zel exotic with his blue skin and pointy ears, and Xelloss… well, he was Xelloss. Always silly and cute, yet having an aura of darkness and danger around him, not to mention general mystery and the fact that he was one of the most powerful mazoku in the world. _Quite attractive for any girl,_ she thought. Well, not the mazoku part, but that really was the only thing which could keep someone from falling into him. Or, as she thought a little, maybe not the only thing; after all, he could be extremely annoying as well. In fact, it surprised her how normally he was behaving tonight. It seemed like he was trying really hard not to annoy her. She couldn't imagine why he would do that, but it felt good that he did.

Xelloss suddenly turned to her and smiled. She blushed and immediately found something interesting in the garden below them, embarrassed that he'd caught her practically staring at him. She didn't see when he opened his eyes, his amethyst gaze softening. The priest sighed inwardly. He could have spent the whole night dancing with her, talking to her, watching her eat (yes, somehow even that seemed appealing tonight), or just being with her and doing nothing, like now. But unfortunately he couldn't just ignore the reason why they were here. "So", he began carefully, "I hate to disturb you, Lina-san, but we have a task at hand."

She made a face at him. "We have plenty of time for those letters. I want to enjoy this ball."

The priest sighed. "Yes, I know. But it's already very late and if we wait further, you'll be all sleepy. We should begin the search now." She didn't answer, just ate her ice-cream. "Lina-san?"

"All right, all right!" she said angrily. _Why do we have to do this at the first ball I happen to like?_ "Where do you think we should start?"

Xelloss thought a little. "I would recommend the library" he said. "Things like letters can usually be found there."

Lina grinded her teeth. _Oh, great. Now he's turning into his usual smartass self again_. She hated when he stated a thing she didn't think of as obvious. "And where is that damned library?"

"In the northern wing of the building."

Lina's eyes narrowed. "How do you know that?"

"That's a secret!"

The sorceress sighed. "My fault." She looked around. "How do we get there?"

"Well, we could go through the building or through the park. Which one would you like?"

The sorceress thought a little. "The park. There is less chance of getting caught there."

"Okay." Xelloss glanced around. They were alone on the balcony. "Nobody can see us. Let's levitate down."

They arrived to the ground without problem. After going round the fountain they started off on the road. The trees were like one huge dark wall on each side, absorbing the light of the lanterns. Lina tried to hurry after the mazoku who began to walk rather quickly, but she stumbled and almost fell. Xelloss stopped and looked at her. "Are you all right?"

She made a face. "You could at least walk slower. I'm still on high-heels." The mazoku nodded and they continued at a slower pace.

After about ten minutes they arrived to a crossroads. _Pretty huge park_, she thought. They turned right; according to Xelloss, the northern wing was that way. After about five minutes a gate appeared on the left side of the road, leading to a place surrounded with a hedge. Lina peeked in; yup, definitely a hedge maze. Satisfied that she found one, she continued her way behind the priest.

After a while, contours of a building appeared vaguely in front of them. It stretched far to the right; it was attached to the other parts of the palace, although they couldn't see where. This side of the palace wasn't as nicely illuminated as the part where the ball was held. Xelloss said it was because apart from the library, there was only a smaller ballroom here, so it was always empty at night. Lina didn't bother asking how he knew that; she was well aware of what the answer would be. It was surprising how well they got along with each other tonight but he was still a pain in the ass.

The road led to a heavily decorated door. A lantern gave some light on each side of it so they could see quite well. The door itself was closed, of course. Lina almost blew it up with a fireball, but Xelloss luckily managed to stop her before she could have tried to. He knelt in front of the door and murmured something. After a moment a snap could be heard and it opened. The priest stood up. "You see? Sometimes it's better to use silent methods to reach your goal."

Lina snorted. She threw the door wide open and stepped in, finding herself on a long corridor leading to a staircase. Xelloss followed her to the end of it and they climbed the stairs. They arrived to another corridor, this one lengthwise stretching all along the wing. On one side of it there were windows, on the other two doors – Lina assumed that one led to the ballroom and the other to the library. "That way" said Xelloss and pointed at the door to the right.

The door was made of dark wood, possibly ebony and there was a silver knob on it. It wasn't locked; after all, who would lock a library in a well-guarded palace? Still, Lina frowned. If those letters were so important, they should have been kept somewhere safer. She wasn't so sure now that they were at the right place.

The door opened silently. A dark room was revealed with several bookshelves in long rows next to each other. But it was too dark to look around properly. "Lighting" she whispered. A ball of light appeared in her hand, illuminating the room. The floor was covered with a thick, luxurious carpet and there were some pretty nice plants in the corners of the room. All in all, it had a warm and comfortable feeling.

The letters, manuscripts and other documents were kept in a large cupboard at the wall. There was a table with armchairs in front of it; Lina immediately threw herself in one of them and sighed as if she'd just won a marathon. Xelloss raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything, just opened the cupboard. The documents inside were nicely arranged next to each other. He pulled out one and examined it.

"What's that?" asked Lina curiously.

"A document about the reconstruction of the southern wing" said the mazoku thoughtfully. "It looks like it was destroyed by a fire a hundred years ago." He put it back and pulled out another pile of papers. He put them on the table in front of Lina. "Go through these."

The sorceress sighed and began to read the first one, while the priest got another pile for himself. They were working in silence for some time until Lina, who felt like she should say something, cleared her throat.

"So," she began, "Is your work always this boring?"

Xelloss chuckled. "No. Most of the time I'm after dragons, madmen, Claire Bible-manuscripts or some simple traitors."

Lina smiled. "And you often attend balls?"

"No, not really."

"But you like them?"

"Let's say I like this one."

"You're not very talkative tonight."

"Can you recall a night when I was?"

"Point taken."

Lina got quickly tired of reading uninteresting stuff like the royal family tree or lists of the mages and mercenaries hired by the king, so she just looked at each document and if it wasn't a letter then she discarded it immediately. Using this method, she quickly finished her pile. She looked at Xelloss, who was still in the middle of his, currently reading a long document. The girl raised an eyebrow.

"Don't tell me you're reading all of them."

"It doesn't hurt and I don't know when I might need what I can learn from these" he answered. "Gathering information always pays off."

Lina shook her head. "But not now. We can't sit here for days."

"Then why don't you look through another pile? There are still a lot of documents in the cupboard."

Lina sighed and got up. "You know," she said while carrying about a hundred pieces of paper to the table, "I've got a sinking feeling that we're at the wrong place."

"Then we've got another reason for examining all the documents. If the letters aren't here, we have to find a clue on where to look next."

Lina gave him a look. "You _know_ they aren't here, don't you?"

"I will only be certain after we've gone through all this stuff."

"Great." Lina buried herself in work again.

After about an hour she leaned back in her armchair with an unsatisfied moan. The cupboard was empty; they were finished. But there was no sign of the letters. She repressed a yawn. _And I could be dancing at the ball now…_ She looked at Xelloss. "You got anything?"

"No." The priest lifted the last document from the table and examined it. "Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"I think I've found something." He glanced up at the girl, who suddenly became much more awake. "This is a hundred year-old list of the books in the library. Listen to this: '… and the book containing ancient recipes was sent today to the private library of King Sode in the southern wing.'" He looked at Lina excitedly.

"And?" The sorceress didn't seem to understand the importance of the discovery.

"The private library of King Sode! According to my source, that was the place where the letters were kept!"

"And you only remember now?!" snapped Lina, threatening to beat him on the spot.

"Of course not!" The priest raised his hands in defense. "I knew they were kept there, but if you look at the ground-plan of the palace…" he pulled out a folded-up piece of paper from his pocket and put it on the table "…there is no such place!"

"But if it doesn't exist then we're at the same spot where we were, aren't we?"

"No. It's not that it doesn't exist" Xelloss began to search the pile of documents feverishly. "It's just that the last news about the letters came about 150 years ago…" He finally lifted a paper triumphantly. "…and the entire southern wing was burnt into a crisp fifty years after that!"

Lina stared at him. "Which means they were destroyed."

Xelloss sighed. "Lei Magnus wasn't a fool, Lina. He knew how to protect important documents from the elements."

"But we still don't know where they are."

The mazoku leaned back in his armchair. "No, we don't. This case needs further investigation."

"Does that mean we're done for tonight?"

Xelloss smiled. "Seems so."

"Aaaand… we're going back to the ball?"

"Yes."

"YAY!!!" Lina jumped up like a child who finally got the toy she was yearning for. "Come on already!" She grabbed the surprised mazoku and pulled him straight out of the room.

"Hey, wait a minute!" Xelloss tried to protest, but to no avail. "Shouldn't we put the papers back into the cupboard?"

"Who cares?" Lina ran towards the staircase and dragged him along. The priest obliged for some moments, but suddenly stopped. "Crap!"

"What's wrong?" asked a slightly confused Lina. "Hey!" she yelped as he drew her through the other door on the corridor, into the small ballroom. He motioned her to be quiet.

After some minutes they could hear two voices.

"Are you sure you saw light in the library?"

"Yes, Sir."

"It's all dark now."

"I could hear voices as well. A male and a female."

"Nobody seems to be in there. If there was anyone at all, then they've left by now."

"I swear they were in there!"

"Don't worry; I believe you." Two figures passed in front of the door opened a crack. Lina and Xelloss watched them in silence. The figures stopped in front of the door of the library. "The door's open." Lina heard them walking into the library and a moment later light glimmered out to the corridor.

"We should go" whispered Xelloss into her ear. Lina winced and blushed deeply, suddenly aware of just how close he was to her, their bodies almost brushing against each other. When they had been dancing, it had felt somehow natural; here in a dark room it was much more intimate. She gulped and nodded.

They slipped out to the corridor, carefully staying in the shadows so that the two people (whoever they were) couldn't see them. They moved stealthily towards the staircase and, finding a perfect moment when voices of a conversation came from the library, slipped down the stairs. They hurried through the corridor downstairs, right to the gates.

They stepped out of the building into the park and started off on the road. But they didn't even leave the area illuminated by the lanterns when Lina managed to step into a gap between two stones and fell. "Ouch" she hissed, groping her left leg. "I think my ankle's sprained." She got up slowly, weighing only on her right leg, wincing in pain as she moved her left one.

Xelloss stepped to her side, wrapping one arm around her waist. "Come on, we have to reach the shadows before those two look out of the window." The girl blushed but leant against him. They started to walk slowly, Lina hobbling. They were still inside the circle of light, though, when the priest saw a shadow from the corner of his eye – and before Lina could have reacted, she found herself under some bushes beside the road with him above her, practically pinning her down. "What the…"

"Sssh" he whispered.

"What the HELL are you DOING??!" she hissed, now on a lower voice.

"They've almost seen us." He raised his head to peek out between the leaves of the bushes. "We have to wait till they go away." He watched the dark figure at the illuminated window.

"I hope they won't come this way" murmured Lina, getting more and more embarrassed.

"I don't think so." Then he looked down at her - and time stopped. They lay there with their gazes locked into each other, both of them suddenly heating up in the unexpected passion of the moment. The whole world ceased to exist as they stared at each other. Lina heard nothing except the pounding of her heart, so loud that she was afraid that Xelloss could hear it too as he bent down slowly, nearer and nearer until their faces were inches apart. She gulped, her glance traveling down to his lips before returning to those magnificent amethyst eyes. Her eyes slowly closed in anticipation…

"Good evening, Sir, good evening, Miss" said a voice. Lina's eyes flew open while Xelloss released her like he'd burnt his hands and both of them jumped up, blushing heavily. Two people were standing in front of them; most likely the same two people who had been looking for them in the library. One of them was speaking. "May I ask what you are doing here?"

"Errr… we just…" Lina stared at the ground helplessly. "We were walking in the park" said Xelloss calmly. "Is it forbidden?"

"For strangers it is." The one who spoke (he seemed to be a palace guard) looked at them with suspicion in his eyes.

"We're sorry, then."

"You didn't by any chance go to the library and mess up the ancient documents kept there?" The guard's eyes narrowed.

"What library?" Xelloss was the picture of innocence. For the first time, Lina was glad that he was so good at misleading.

But he was at a disadvantage now; there was too much proof against them. Lina bit her lip and looked at the guard. He didn't seem convinced. Time to act. "Elmekia Lance!" The guard couldn't even react before the spell hit him. "Flare Arrow!" The other man fell on his back with a groan.

Xelloss looked down at them. "Hey, I would have solved it!"

"Sorry." Lina didn't dare to look at him; the memories of the last five minutes were still too vivid. She fixed her eyes on her shoes, feeling her face burning. It was very hard to figure out just what had happened and especially why. One thing was for sure: she had almost got her first kiss. From Xelloss. The most disturbing thing was that she _wasn't_ disturbed by that. _What the hell has gotten into me??!_

Xelloss cleared his throat. She slowly lifted her head to find him looking at her - and he was blushing. She'd never thought that mazoku were capable of a thing like that. He looked almost too cute to be real. If she hadn't been embarrassed beyond belief, she would surely have giggled and hugged him.

"We should be going" he said. "Somebody could have heard it." His blush deepened a little.

She nodded quickly. "Of course." She started off on the road, but collapsed with a loud cry.

Xelloss was immediately by her side. "Lina? Are you all right?" He even forgot the '-san'.

"Yeah" she groaned, gripping her ankle. "I forgot about this." She began to cast a healing spell; after all, there wasn't any reason for hobbling the entire way back to the ball. She glanced at Xelloss, who was standing awkwardly next to her. She had often wanted him to be like this, embarrassed and disturbed, to feel what it was like to be the one confused, but now she suddenly wanted to comfort him. If only she knew what to say.

She finished the spell and the priest helped her to her feet, taking care not to touch her longer than necessary. She could have been offended by that, but she was just as embarrassed as he appeared to be. But now she had learnt something about him: it was possible to embarrass him, at least once in a thousand years.

No words were said on the way back. Both of them were walking in silence, buried deep in their own thoughts. While Lina was still thinking about what she could say, Xelloss was simply trying to find a reasonable explanation of what had happened. This wasn't fun anymore; he had never been so confused in his existence. He desperately wanted to escape, to teleport away as far as possible, but couldn't: the spell that prevented him from getting in that way didn't let him leave either. So, he was forced to stay here, together with the only person who had ever been able to do this to him, and had absolutely no idea of how to act now in this changed situation. In short, he had about the same problem as Lina: he was feeling terribly embarrassed and even more uncomfortable. The experience was new to him and he didn't like it. He wanted everything to go back to normal, to be as calm, collected and self-confident as he used to be. Even the idea of simply killing Lina crossed his mind for a moment, but he recoiled with disgust. Even when she had collapsed because of a sprained ankle, he had felt fear he never had experienced before – there was no way he could have handled hurting her.

This was another thing he was worried about. Destruction was in his nature; he had never had problems with the thought of killing someone. And yet Lina had always been somehow different, he had to admit that. Aside from respect, there had always been a strange feeling he couldn't recognize when he looked at her, a feeling lurking on the edge of his mind but always slipping out of his hands when he tried to grab it. He couldn't deny its presence: it was there when he watched her read the Claire Bible-manuscript they found when she was cursed; it was there when the Lord of Nightmares took over her body and he thought he had lost her; it was there when they were fighting Valgaav. And many, many other times he felt it, always mildly and fading almost immediately, never like now. That moment in the bushes had somehow brought it to the surface, and it was stronger than ever. And he was scared. Very, very scared. What would his Mistress say if she knew about this? Maybe she knew already; after all, he couldn't hide his secrets from her. Will she punish him? He was almost certain that whatever this was, it was against the unwritten rules of his race. _What the hell should I do now??_

They arrived to the square with the fountain. They had to put aside their mixed feelings for a while because right after levitating up to the balcony they ran into Yaroh.

"So there you are!" the designer appeared to be very excited. "Where were you? I was looking for you."

"Errr, we just…" Lina apparently wasn't the queen of explanations.

Yaroh looked at her, then at Xelloss, noticing their embarrassment. "Oh. I see. Well, while you were… khm… away, something happened." He was apparently trying very hard to remain calm. Then he burst out with a huge smile. "We won the contest!"

Lina stared at him. "What contest?"

"What do you mean 'what contest'? I became Fashion King!"

"Oh. That contest." She forced out a smile. "Congratulations."

Yaroh seemingly wasn't disturbed by the lack of enthusiasm. He showed them a huge cup. "The jury chose my design as the best one! I'm the youngest Fashion King of all time!" He paused and smiled at them. "Thank you. This couldn't have happened without you. You are such a charming couple!" To that remark Lina turned redder than ever. Xelloss slightly winced but managed to retain his mask of composure.

"Can we go now?" asked Lina, slightly panicking. Even though she had wanted to dance again earlier, she couldn't imagine how she could do that now. She didn't even know if Xelloss wanted to do it.

"Oh. Of course. You don't have to stay anymore if you don't want to." Still smiling, Yaroh pulled out two smaller cups. "These are for you. And you can keep the dress and the suit; they are my gifts to you."

"And what about our own clothes?" Xelloss spoke for the first time.

"I'll send for them in a minute."

They were waiting for the clothes in silence. Two girls brought them wrapped neatly in paper. Xelloss got back his staff as well, and seemed to be much more comfortable with it in his hands. They took the two tidy packages and some moments later they arrived to the palace gates. The guards opened them and they stepped out to the now almost empty town square.

After moving away from the palace they stopped, facing each other.

"Um, I really have to go now" said Xelloss, scratching his head nervously. "I must continue searching for those letters."

"Of course." Lina bit her lip. "See you later, then."

He seemed to hesitate for a moment. "Bye" he said then with a faint smile, and he was gone.

Lina let out a deep sigh. She wondered when they'd meet again. A part of her was afraid and wished for it never to happen; another part wanted to see him as soon as possible. Tired of her confusing feelings and sleepy because of the long evening, she dismissed her problems from her mind and walked to the other side of the square, where a sleeping swordsman, a very sleepy princess and a moody chimera were waiting for her.


	6. Part 6

**Author's Note: **Sooooo... Part 6 is here! Fashion Night is now COMPLETE! The story ends with this chapter. ATTENTION! Extreme amount of fluff at the end. Don't say I haven't warned you:)  
Now that it's complete, maybe you could write some reviews? Not because I can't live without them, but this is the first romantic story I have ever written and have absolutely no idea of how good or bad it is. So, please review! Of course I'm extremely grateful for the reviews I have already got; they have warmed my heart and helped a lot!:)

**Disclaimer...** guess where it is ^.~

- o -

An entire week passed and Xelloss still hadn't returned. During that time the rest of the gang stayed in Inashtar because Zelgadis had learnt that Lei Magnus had been in connection with a mage who was famous for creating golems and chimeras. Zelgadis took into his head that the letters were written to that mage, and therefore could contain information about his cure. The chimera got down to work with his usual obsession and searched all the libraries for them. Amelia and Lina tried to help him, but he wasn't too grateful, saying this was his own problem. While the princess didn't budge, Lina finally gave up; she had more than enough things on her mind even without arguments. She still hadn't decided whether the events of the Fashion Night were good or bad, but there wasn't a day when she didn't think of Xelloss or wondered where he could be. She walked a lot alone in the city park, remembering how it had felt to dance with him or the moment in the park when they had almost kissed. She often mused about what could have happened if they hadn't been disturbed and she wasn't sure she wouldn't have liked it. This confused her even more than before. To top it off, she was afraid that he wouldn't come back. The time when she hadn't been able to decide if she had wanted to meet him was over: she wanted to see him again, this was the only thing she was certain about. But, considering how scared he had seemed when he had left, it was possible that he didn't intend to come back at all or if he did, he wasn't going to appear in a couple of months, maybe even years. If that was the case, what could she do? Looking for him was out of the question; she didn't have the slightest idea of where he was currently. And even if she somehow managed to find him, he could teleport to the other side of the world in a minute if he wanted to. The only option was using a summoning spell, but she wasn't an expert at those and she didn't know if it was even possible to summon a mazoku as powerful as him.

She tried to dismiss these thoughts; after all, he had only been gone for a week. Maybe he was still looking for the letters; or if he wasn't, he still must have needed some time to think, just like her. Or maybe he'd got another assignment. She hoped that he'd come back some time, though.

She thought all this over as she was lying in bed in the morning of the eighth day after the ball. After a while she sighed and got up. She took a bath and dressed up before going downstairs to have breakfast. She was surprised to find Zelgadis and Amelia at a table; by this time of the day they were usually already in a library.

"Good morning" she said, sitting down at their table.

"Hi, Lina" said Zelgadis, sipping his coffee.

"Good morning, Miss Lina" came Amelia's voice from behind a huge sandwich. The sorceress sighed and ordered an ordinary breakfast (well, at least for her – the waitress seemed rather astonished by the amount of food).

"Hi there!" Gourry arrived, yawning. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yeah, thanks." Lina smiled: while everyone else was occupied with something, the swordsman had nothing else to do but eat and sleep, which he did with pleasure. While he wasn't usually lazy, he appeared to enjoy this little break in their journeys.

Gourry sat down beside her, right when several waiters arrived with her food. "Great!" he said with a smile, "I'll have the same!" Some of the waiters almost fainted, but one glance from Lina was enough to make them flee to the kitchen.

They ate in relative silence, which meant they didn't talk, only champed, rattled, gulped, sighed, etc. They earned a couple of disapproving frowns from the other guests but everyone knew better than to comment on anything. Lina's legendary temper appeared to be well-known even around here.

"So," began Zelgadis as Lina and Gourry leaned back in their chairs with satisfied sighs, "I'm done with my work here, which means we can leave the city if you want to."

"Really?" Lina glanced at him. "Did you find anything?"

Amelia answered this time. "Unfortunately, no. We couldn't find those letters anywhere." She appeared to be very disappointed.

"And you just give up?" This wasn't like Zelgadis.

The chimera clenched his fists angrily. "We found nothing! Nothing at all! Not even the slightest clue about those letters. Maybe they don't even exist!"

Lina frowned. "I'm quite sure they exist. If they didn't, Xelloss wouldn't be searching for them."

"How do you know? Maybe he was fooled by somebody. Or he could have made up the entire thing!"

"Why would he do such a thing?"

"Don't tell me you know the reason of his every action. As I know him, he could have just been playing one of his damned games with us! He must be laughing somewhere right now."

Lina sighed. Zelgadis seemed to really have given up. She doubted that he thought the thing about Xelloss seriously, though; or if he did, he hated the mazoku even more than she had assumed. She personally didn't think he made up the whole thing. Xelloss liked jokes and games, that was for sure – but why would he have left without telling them it was just a joke? That wasn't like him. Not to mention that he never wasted so much time and effort on a simple joke.

"So, are we going then?" asked Gourry.

"Seems so."

"That's too bad. I like it here."

"And what's our next destination?" asked Amelia.

Zelgadis shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me."

Lina suddenly got an idea. "Why not travel to Ralfagg?"

The chimera frowned. "Do you want to summon something?" Ralfagg had the greatest collection of books about summoning.

"Maybe. I'm still gathering information." _And if Xelloss doesn't want to show up, I'll make him do it_. She smiled.

- o -

They left the city and began their long journey to the west. They were traveling across a gentle countryside with small forests and streams, the sun shone brightly. All in all, they had an excellent day without bandits or lesser demons attacking to ruin it. At noon they stopped at a meadow beside a stream. After having lunch they lay on their backs and just rested for a while. Gourry fell asleep after about five minutes and they decided to leave him alone. Lina slowly became sleepy as well.

"My, my, what a pleasant sight we have here!"

The sorceress' eyes flew wide open. She knew that voice very well. "Xelloss!" she shouted, jumping up. There he was, staff, cloak, purple hair, stupid grin, everything that made him so well-recognizable. He came back! She almost embraced him but suddenly became nervous and embarrassed. What if he just showed up because he had another 'task' for them, and not because he wanted to see her again?

Zelgadis grabbed him and lifted him by his shirt. Xelloss raised an eyebrow. "Nice to see you too, Zelgadis."

"Where are the letters??!"

"What letters?"

"Don't play with me! The letters we were looking for!"

"Oh. THOSE letters." Xelloss smiled and glanced at Lina.

"Did you find them?"

Xelloss chuckled. "Of course I did. But you won't see them if you don't play nice." He threatened the chimera with his index finger.

"Why you…" Zelgadis' eyes practically glowed.

Lina sighed and put her hand on his arm. "Let him go."

The chimera snorted but released the priest. "So?"

"Why are you suddenly so interested in them?"

"BECAUSE I WANT TO FIND MY CURE!" Zelgadis apparently was beginning to lose his temper.

"No need to shout, I'm right here." Xelloss pulled out an envelope from his pocket, still smiling. "I doubt you'll find anything about that in it, though."

"There's only one?" asked Lina, sounding disappointed.

"No, there are quite a few. But I don't think you'll need more than one." The sorceress suddenly started to have a bad feeling about this.

Zelgadis ripped the envelope open and drew out the letter. "Uhhh, what's this smell?"

Gourry, who woke up to the voices, sniffed. "It reminds me of something."

Everyone looked at him. "Of what?"

The swordsman shrugged. "Dunno."

Lina smacked him on the head. "Speak again when you actually _remember_, jellyfish-brains!"

Zelgadis lifted the paper, his face like he'd just found the Holy Grail. _It must be a great catharsis for him, _thought Lina. Xelloss was quietly grinning to himself.

The chimera began to read the letter. Then his expression suddenly changed. The dreamy smile disappeared, his eyes widened so much that Lina was afraid they might even fall out. He made a noise, something between a groan and a scream, and generally seemed like he was drowning.

"What's the matter, Mr. Zelgadis?" asked Amelia, peeking over his shoulder. As she looked at the letter, she sighed with stars in her eyes. "Oh, how beautiful!" Lina slightly frowned.

Gasping, Zelgadis held the letter like he was dealing with an exceptionally dangerous tarantula. "This… this…" he appeared to be out of air "This is a LOVE LETTER!"

"WHAT??!!" Lina stared at him.

Gourry snapped his fingers. "Got it! Patchouli!"

Xelloss burst out laughing. "Dear Ruby-Eye, you should see your face!"

Both Lina and Zelgadis looked at him. If gazes had been able to kill, the priest would surely have been kicked into oblivion at the very spot. But they weren't, so he had to wait until Lina reached him.

Which happened in seconds. But before she could have got down to really beating him, he simply disappeared with a grin.

- o -

Some hours later, when they were finally able to wake up Zelgadis, who, after laughing hysterically for about ten minutes, simply fainted, they continued their journey. Lina was dragging behind, deep in thought. No matter how hard she tried, she just couldn't figure out how she stood with the priest now. She had expected their relationship to change after what happened (or almost happened), but now it seemed like he was still as distant as ever. All masks in place, no show of real emotions, and especially no blushing. It was quite obvious that he had reached a conclusion about his feelings during the week before, and it seemed like he had decided to leave everything as it had been before the ball. She realized that this felt much worse than his little joke with those love letters.

Amelia dragged behind as well, picking up her pace. "What's the matter, Miss Lina?"

The sorceress looked at her. Amelia knew about what had happened: after seeing Lina so embarrassed, she hadn't left her alone till she had told her about it. The princess had turned out to be a very good audience and she had slowly poured out her heart to her. She decided to share her problem again.

She sighed. "I don't know what to do now, Amelia."

"You mean now that Mr…"

"_Yes_, Amelia." Lina gave her an angry look. She had asked her not to tell the guys about this and they were walking right in front of them.

Amelia glanced at Gourry and Zel. "Oh. I see."

"I have no idea of what he wants now!" Lina seemed desperate. She lowered her voice. "He disappears for a week and then he acts like nothing happened!" She was more confused than ever. If only she was more experienced in this… but something told her she couldn't possibly have enough experience to deal with Xelloss.

"Well, I think you should talk to him" said Amelia. "If you don't, you will never know."

"How? He disappeared again. And even if he comes back, I don't remember words or questions ever getting me anywhere with him."

"If he wants something, he'll come back and you can at least try."

"But what if he doesn't want anything? Crap, I don't even know if I want it!"

"You wanted him to come back, didn't you? That means you want it."

"Yes, but… I don't know. Everything's so complicated with him."

"That's normal Miss Lina, Life is always complicated with men." Amelia sighed. "I think you're afraid of this."

"Of course I'm afraid! He isn't even human."

"I don't think that matters in this case. From what you've told me it's quite clear that he likes you. Maybe he's afraid as well. Have you thought about that?"

The sorceress stared at her. "That's ridiculous."

"Why?" The princess looked back at her. "I don't know much about him, Miss Lina; I don't think any of us do. But one thing I know is that he's an excellent actor. If he wants to hide his emotions, he can do it. And I'm quite sure he doesn't want you to see him so vulnerable again."

Lina bit her lip. "But why would he be afraid? He's always so self-confident…"

Amelia laughed. "Why are _you_ afraid?" She smiled at the sorceress. "It takes courage to let somebody close to you, Miss Lina. If you do, that person can hurt you. It's natural that you're afraid if you don't know his intentions. But remember: he doesn't know your intentions either. If you think about this, it's not so surprising that he doesn't want to let you close."

Lina stared at the ground. She hadn't thought about this. Was it possible that Amelia was right?

"I don't want to interfere or decide instead of you" continued the princess "but I think you should make the first step. Show him that you are worthy of his trust and he'll trust you. Maybe not immediately, but in some time he will. Don't let him get away so easily!"

Lina groaned. _Why can't this be easy? Why does my first romantic affair have to be with a mazoku?!_

"Of course you can't do this if you're not sure of yourself. But you won't be happy if you don't dare to fight for it. Think this over and I think you'll find out what you really want."

Lina sighed and gave the princess a small smile. "Thank you, Amelia. You were very helpful."

The younger girl smiled back at her. "I hope I was."

While Amelia went back to the guys, the sorceress buried herself in her thoughts again. She would never have thought that the princess could be so much help: she threw light upon things she had never thought about. It was disturbing how much more Amelia knew about these things than her, despite her younger age. But she felt far less confused now than before. The complicated set of problems, uncertainty and fear had been reduced to one question: _Do I want him or not?_

She hesitated. If he had been human, the answer would have been a crystal-clear yes. But he wasn't; he was one of the most evil creatures in the world. The way he usually acted didn't change what he was. Or did it? She bit her lip. She thought the theory of mazoku not being capable of feeling emotions had already been proved false; but would he really be able to love her? And, what's equally important, would he be _allowed_ to love her? She knew he had his orders; what if he only left again because it was forbidden for him to be with her?

She had to talk to him. If he doesn't want to show up, she'll find a way to force him. She sighed; Ralfagg was still at least a hundred miles away. Unfortunately, there was more than enough time for her to change her mind before they could talk.

- o -

At sunset they stopped at a clearing. After having dinner, Lina lay quietly in her tent. During the afternoon she had reached a conclusion: if Xelloss was allowed to date her, she was willing to. Crap, not only willing to! She _wanted_ to go out with him! She would even fight for him if necessary. But despite Amelia's logical arguments, she was still afraid that he didn't have the same opinion and would only laugh at her if she told him about her feelings.

Unable to sleep, she got up and left her tent. Gourry, who was currently on watch, glanced at her. "Hey, Lina! I didn't know you were up!" His face suddenly became worried. "Is everything okay? You were acting a little strange lately."

Lina blinked. The swordsman maybe wasn't the brightest person she had ever met, but he was very perceptive. "Yeah, everything's all right. I've just got a little too much on my mind, I guess." She flashed a smile at him.

Gourry smiled back. "Well, if you want to talk about it, I'm always here!"

"No, thanks. I think I'm going for a walk."

"Okay, but be careful. There can be beasts in the forest."

Lina rolled her eyes. "I can defend myself, Gourry."

As she left the camp, she didn't notice the pair of amethyst eyes watching her from a tree. Xelloss sighed quietly. The previous week he'd had plenty of time to think over what had happened. He wasn't so scared now, even though some of his embarrassment had returned when he had seen her again. But unfortunately he couldn't read her thoughts and her emotions were too complicated to be useful, so he wasn't certain how she would react to his plan. Well, there was no turning-back now. He disappeared.

Lina was wondering aimlessly for a while, until she came to a moonlit clearing. She frowned; there was something in the grass. She stepped closer.

It was an envelope; quite similar to the one Xelloss gave to Zelgadis. She picked it up. "Hey, Xelloss, you dropped one!" she shouted into the night, but she was becoming excited. Maybe he was really somewhere around here?

She glanced at the envelope and bit her lip. It wouldn't hurt to take a look at it… maybe it would even give her ideas about what to say when she meets him. Gathering information always pays off. Smiling at the memory, she opened the envelope and drew out the letter. She began to read it.

It was a poem, and a quite good one. She wouldn't have thought that Lei Magnus (if he really was the author) was such a good poet. After a couple of minutes she arrived to the last verse – and her eyes suddenly widened. This wasn't Lei Magnus' letter. _Can it be that…_

"Do you like it?" she jerked up her head at the voice. Xelloss was standing beside a tree, his face in shadow. Her heart immediately started to pound.

He stepped out into the moonlight with an unreadable expression on his face. Lina gulped. It had been easy to decide what she wanted when she had been alone, but now that he was here as well…

"It's nice" she answered, her voice shaking. "Is it one of Lei Magnus' letters?"

There was a small smile on his lips. "No."

"I thought so." _I should tell him now. But how? I can't just ask him if he wants to go out with me…_ Xelloss was apparently waiting for her to say something. "Zel's quite angry, you know. Why did you trick us?" _Uh. That was lame. I should have said something else._

For a moment he looked surprised; it seemed like this wasn't what he had been expecting. She couldn't blame him; she wouldn't have expected it either. But he regained composure as quickly as always. "That's my nature, Lina." He apparently decided not to use the '-san' anymore. "You should decide whether you like it or not."

_Of course I like it. I like everything about you__. _But she didn't dare to say anything.

He came closer; he was only a couple of steps away now. His face remained calm, but his mind was racing. _Why doesn't she say anything? Is there still hope?_ Her emotions showed that she was just as nervous as him. Well, at least she felt something. _Now or never…_

"So" he began, stepping even closer "I'm going to a festival at the next city and… I was wondering if you would like to come with me." That's it; he said it out. It was up to her now. And he didn't know if he would survive a 'no'.

She stared at him incredulously. "Are you… asking me out for a date?" her voice was merely a whisper.

"If I am?"

"Then I… I…" She looked into his eyes. They were open, staring at her with all their astonishing beauty. She already felt the same magic as a week before, the world reducing to the two of them… she barely noticed her own lips move. "Yes."

He smiled; it was like a rock had been removed from his shoulders. "We could dance" he whispered, bending down.

She looked up at him, biting her lip. "That would be great."

And a moment later he was kissing her, and he was so gentle and so passionate at the same time, and she felt like she was melting, and… dear Cephied, what a first kiss this was. She slowly stopped thinking as he wrapped his arms around her waist and drew her closer to him, deepening the kiss. She let the letter fall on the ground and she wrapped her own arms around his neck. She didn't have the slightest idea of how long this lasted and to tell the truth, she didn't care. She gasped as they finally stopped, hanging on to him like she was drowning. He looked at her and felt like his every dream came true at the same moment as she smiled at him.

"So" she said, her lips brushing against his, setting all his senses on fire "You want to tell me your secrets?"

He smiled, caressing her silky hair. "Maybe." Then he kissed her again and teleported them away from the clearing, leaving nothing there but the letter, lying in the grass. It was folded up, leaving only the last verse visible.

_Today I will return to you_

_and stay with you forever._

_I want to whisper privately to you_

_t__he secrets that I have hidden_…


End file.
